Insight

Sharing economy to triple by 2020

The so-called sharing economy will be worth more than $20 billion a year by 2020 according to Juniper Research, three times the $6.4 billion it thinks the sector was worth in 2015.

The so-called sharing economy will be worth more than $20 billion a year by 2020 according to Juniper Research.

The $20.4 billion figure is three times the $6.4 billion it thinks the sector was worth in 2015.

Juniper identifies six core areas of activity in the sector and some new sub-sectors of sharing which will drive the revenue hikes. Transport, goods, services, music and video, space, and money are the base from which learning, municipal, health, logistics, and food can build.

Juniper has already identified that ride-sharing will be worth $6.5 billion by 2020, and adds that ride-sharing is also leading the charge in what it describes as “collaborative transport” – the combination of distribution platforms, vehicle manufacturers, and new technologies to create taxi services which use autonomous vehicles.

Uber is also seen in terms of having a sharing-economy footprint beyond its ride-sharing role. Juniper mentions UberRUSH and UberEATS as examples of how Uber will also impact on the traditional logistics sector.

Airbnb is travel’s other sharing economy flag-waver and is seen in terms of “space rental” sector alongside businesses such as PivotDesk and WeWork. Space rental is tipped to be worth more than ride-sharing by 2019.

The $20.4 billion by 2020 tripling of revenues headline figure shows how large the so-called sharing economy can get in the medium-term, even if some naysayers might argue that including eBay or Netflix in the definition is a bit of a stretch.